The Long Goodbye

PERE UBU

Description

Label Review.

2019 album with bonus live disc recorded at Montreuil, Paris, Dec 2018. Also available on vinyl.

Our Overview.

Pere Ubu first emerged in 1975 and their early career placed them right in the middle of the Punk/New Wave scene of the time but Pere Ubu were hard to classify; Art-rock? Post-punk? Or just Pere Ubu? To define their music, Pere Ubu coined the term “avant-garage” to reflect interest in both experimental avant-garde music (especially Musique concrète) and raw, direct blues-influenced garage rock. Frontman David Thomas has stated the term is “a joke invented to have something to give journalists when they yelp for a neat sound bite or pigeonhole”. The group broke up in 1982 but reformed later in the decade and for the last 15 years or so the line-up has been fairly steady featuring Thomas (lead vocals, keyboards etc.), Michele Temple (bass), Robert Wheeler (synthesizer), Steve Mehlman (drums) & Keith Moliné (guitar).

Their new album, ‘The Long Goodbye, comes nearly two years after their previous record for Cherry Red, ‘20 Years In A Montana Missile Silo.’ Named after Raymond Chandler’s novel, ‘The Long Goodbye’ is the end of a road. Thomas has long talked of their journey to Satisfied City: “This wraps up every song and story that Pere Ubu has been telling in different ways for the past forty plus years.”This Pere Ubu album sounds like no other. It boasts a large expanse of synths due to Thomas writing and arranging the songs alone with his collection of drum machines, synthesizers and a melodeon before sending to the other musicians to complete this unique fusion of techno meets trad rock meets… the avant garage.

The CD edition boasts a live bonus disc, recorded in December 2018. Former member Chris Cutler rejoined David Thomas, Gagarin and Keith Moliné to play the entire album to a packed theatre in Montreuil, Paris. The show also included the seminal Pere Ubu classic ‘Heart Of Darkness’ and Neil Young’s ‘Running Dry’.